Utility application Ser. Nos. 10/796,162 and 09/685,044, and Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/198,157 and 60/201,000 Filed Apr. 17, 2000 and May 1, 2000 respectively, are included by reference herewithin.
Any Professional in science, medicine and/or law and the like, knows that there is not enough time available to read the large amount of literature he or she should read to stay current in his or her area, let alone related and other areas of interest. An alternative to reading, which many people find enjoyable and beneficial, is to listen to audio presentation of materials which are prepared to consicely deliver information. Audio books, for instance, provide people a concentrated presentation of books while allowing them to do other things, simultaneous with listening. A convenient source of audio format presentation of professional continuing education information which is prepared to keep professional who listen current, would therefore provide utility.
Continuing, in view of the decision in State Street Bank & Trust v. Signature Financial Group Inc., No. 96-1327 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 23, 1998), the U.S. Patent Office now grants Patents for Business methods.
With the present invention in mind, a Search of Patents has been conducted and has provided a Patent to Allison, U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,230, which describes a method for assessing the skills of medical professionals and involves a medical professional accessing a competency test over a network link. Based on the results of the test a medical professional is provided a list of courses over the network link which might or might not be available over the network. As the courses are not necessarily available over the network, repeated accessing of updated versions thereof over said network is not obviated. Neither does Allison describe updating the competency tests. Importantly it is noted that the Allison U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,230 is focused on providing Competency Tests to Health Care Professionals to determine Professional Deficiencies. If a Health Care Professional passes an accessed Competency test no Courses are suggested to him or her, hence, the Health Care Professional is not made aware of Courses via the Allison methodology. If, however, a Deficiency is identified by the Allison Compentency testing, a listing of Courses is made available to the Health Care Professional under the Allison Methodology, which Courses are prepared to provide information aimed at correcting the specifically identified deficiencies, and which might or might not be available over the internet. (Note, the Claims herein require that the Audio Format professional continuing education information be accessed via the information provider Internet web site). Under Allison, if a Health Care Provider then takes an identified Course to maintain Professional Competency Requirements, a Record of it is added to a list of his or her Completed Courses and that serves to indicate the overcoming of a detected Deficiency. Nothing in Allison suggests that the Competency Test be deleted or that Courses should be periodically updated and reaccessed a number of times by the Client to keep him or her aware and informed of developments in a topical area. Further, while the Allison 230 patent indicates that Courses can be available in various formats, nothing therein states that Audio Format courses are provided On-Line and updated periodically, and that in the absence of deficiency identifying Competency testing as a guide that a category of professional continuing education information should be accessed even once, (let alone a number of times by a Client, with the information in the course being updated at least once between at least two accessings thereof).
The Allison 230 patent is simply not directed to providing audio format professional continuing education which is prepared by an information provider to keep said client current, (aware and informed of developments), in a topical category selected and received by a Client in return for payment. The Allison 230 patent is directed to providing Course information from any available source, (not necessarily On-line), which is prepared by the provider thereof to train a client to overcome a specific documented professional competency deficiency which is identified by a Compentency test administered as part of the Allison Method.
A Patent to Chao et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,632, is disclosed because it describes a computer-aided learning method and systems for matching students with instructors.
Patents to Walkeriet al., (of Walker Digital), include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,794,207 and 5,926,796. Said 207 patent to Walker et al. is focused on bilateral buyer-driven commerce, but is cited primarily as it is very enlightening regarding the Internet and regarding basic Contract and U.C.C. Law etc. The 796 patent to Walker et al. is cited as it describes a system and method for facilitating sale and distribution of retail subscriptions to periodicals. The 207 and 796 patents are incorporated hereinto by reference as regards background information.
Additional known Patents to Walker et al. are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,797,127, 5,897,620 and 5,825,863, the first two of which focus on pricing and selling etc. of airline tickets, and the later of which focuses on prepaid limited usage calling cards.
Other Patents identified are:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,980 to Glasser et al., which describes an Audio-On-Demand Communication System which focuses on providing access to audio, such as news or music, or having a book read over the internet. The invention is focused on a system and method for sending a data stream at a rate controlled by acknowledgement markers sent from a receiving computer, which acknowledgement markers control data flow to said receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,216 to Logan et al., describes an audio message exchange system and method in which a listener can input audio format data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,762 to Penners et al., describes a system and method for providing packet data and voice services to mobile subscribers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,032 to deVires, describes an electronically distributed magazine which provides for a reader thereof to submit comment relating to an article therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,324 to Cheng et al., describes a method and system for receiving a subscription message from Client computer wherein the subscription message specifies a remote data base table and replication period.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,697 to Usui describes a timer-based fee-charging Internet system which provides an authentication server to confirm if a subscriber should be allowed to gain access.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,716 to Kenner et al., describes a system and method for delivery of video clips, optionally accompanied by audio.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,829 to Li describes an information access system and method in which factors such as proximity, speed, server capacity, server loading, backbone and access network bandwidths and placement and access mechanisms of servers are considered regarding ease of acquiring information.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,018,767 to Fijolek et al., and 5,943,422 to Van Wie et al. are also disclosed as they were turned-up in a Search effort, although not felt to be particularly relevant.
It is further known that there are various available services known which available which enable clients to, for instance, access audio programming such as from radio stations anywhere in the world, and to otherwise allow access to music over the Internet.
It is also noted that a company, Vox Juris Inc. publishes updated Legal information in numerous topics under the Registered Trademark LAWCAST, and distributes updated tapes or CD's every two weeks to its subscribers via mail. The inventor herein attempted to establish a similar business starting in 1983, which would have provided real-time audio format updated professional education information via FM-subcarriers, but was never able to find funding.
What has not been found is a Patent, or combination of Patents describing a method of providing audio format professional continuing education information for payment comprising the basic steps of providing Audio Format Professional Continuing Education presented in topical categories, the information therein being prepared by said information provider to keep said client current, (aware and informed of developments), in the topical category, (as opposed to train said client to overcome a specific identified documented professional competency deficiency), and that the Client selects, verifies or provides payment for the right to access, and then accesses a topical category at least twice, wherein an updating of audio format information presented in said topical category is tended to by the information provider, between at least two of said Client accessings. An additional step includes said Client providing acknowledgement to the information provider that he or she has received the information. This can take the form of filling out a brief questionnaire, typically provided in text as opposed to audio, format, which in combination with the attestation documents that the Client has listen-to-grasped the information accessed.
A need is thus identified for a method of providing audio format professional continuing education information to clients, to keep clients aware and informed of developments in at least one topical category. The invention disclosed herein provides such a method.